he Southeastern Predoctoral Training Program is designed to increase the number of well-trained clinical researchers who will assume leadership roles in the design, conduct and oversight of future clinical investigations. Our hypothesis is that we can train individuals to become rigorous, high quality and proactive clinical investigators by teaching the principles and practice of clinical investigation and the application of cutting edge technology to clinical research. To test this hypothesis we will conduct the following specific aims: 1) For predoctoral students from College of Medicine, College of Dental Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, College of Graduate Studies, and College of Health Professions, provide clinical research training including development of basic skills in biostatistics, epidemiology, clinical trials, health services research, measurement, recruitment and retention of diverse populations in clinical research; and in the application of cutting edge research technologies; 1.a Offer a carefully designed yet flexible curriculum that enables students to ultimately function independently in clinical investigation, 1 b. Conduct the training in a challenging, interactive environment that involves students, faculty members and mentors structured around an initial one week orientation, an intensive summer session, a one year "pull-out" for an MS degree, or a PhD in clinical investigation via the Medical Scientist Training Program or Dental Scientist Training Program. Training activities include in addition to the didactic courses, rotations in the different domains of clinical research, a monthly science seminar series and journal club, visits by role models, and presentation of their research at the MUSC Student Research Day, 2) Increase the number of well-trained clinical researchers who will, in the future, assume leadership roles in the design, conduct, and oversight of multi- disciplinary, collaborative clinical investigations critical to the mission of NIH and 2a. Train individuals to assemble and lead the appropriate multidisciplinary teams needed to carry out their clinical research. In addition to the core curriculum, we are educating the trainees in the following areas of cutting edge technology; proteomics, genetics, DNA microarrays, viral vectors, 64 slice CT scanning, functional MRI, regenerative medicine and zebra fish technology. With these approaches we will train the next generation of rigorous, futuristic thinking clinical investigators who will be able to contribute to improving the health of the nation.